City of Richmond covers 911 service fee for residents, for now

City allocates $2.3 million from general fund as future model remains uncertain

RICHMOND, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Richmond residents are now not having to pay a 911 service fee, because city leaders have decided to cover the cost.

The City of Richmond is absorbing the newly instituted fee by using $2.3 million from its general fund. The decision to implement the fee follows a Madison County ordinance passed last year that replaced a landline-based fee with a broader 911 service fee.

“What we’re doing, as a city commission, we’re going to pit the bill for our citizens of Richmond for this year, put our heads together immediately and try to figure out for the future, and if it’s something in the future everybody will know have a heads up whatever we decide to do,” said Commissioner Jim Newby.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 73% of Americans didn’t have landlines in 2022, meaning most residents had not been paying landline fees.

During a recent commission meeting, Richmond city leaders discussed the growing concerns around implementing new fees.

“We know timing, this is 7th month of the year, and we know for some people and for some of the institutions you mentioned, church et cetera, made their budgets a year ago, this is probably almost impossible consider how much some would be ‘billed’ for that fee,” said Mayor Robert Blythe.

Now, local officials are looking for long-term solution.

“We’ll go down the road of possibly looking at some different models, possibly a flat rate, we may back in to using what the county is, we may look at an option of doing our own 911, I don’t know at this time, but we’re going to look at the cost of different models and run the numbers, obviously this money, this amount isn’t sustainable every year to pay for 911,” said one member of the Richmond Board of Commissioners.

City leaders say they expect to come up with options for a more permanent plan over the next 90 to 120 days.